I'v just read all of the postings from you guys and found them very interesting a specialy Jim who hase a lot of patience, will and talent in this field.Thank you very much for your input on this subject it is very important to try to keep old methods of doing things.At least i know that i still have a chance of having my old 1893 marlin re-cch one day and restor it, but for now i still use it for hunthing even if it's 100 years old and it still shoot's perfectely.
again thanks guys for this very interesting forum.
JimD,
Hi Jim and hope we may be able to help you some with this ..........
Years ago when I was first learning to caseharden I got mixed up with Oscar and he refered me to Joe Baker in D.C. who had been the attorney for Marlin for years. He had access to the film that you fellas are refering to nowadays but back then it was sorta a "secret" and very few people knew about it. Anyway he and Oscar were great buddys and both of them helped me ALOT to wade thru this whole casecolor thing.........
As far as the correct amount after lots of experimenting with various percentages [and it varies according to the grit of the bone charcoal ] about a 50/50 mixture is correct on Marlins and L.C. Smiths. as far as additives and water temps and and distances of the drop and all that black magic that is a subject that is toooooooo lengthy for this posting but I will tell you this breifly ......... tempertures above 1375 F are NOT nessasarry . To many so called gunsmiths think that hotter is better when it comes to blueing or casecoloring [hence all the warped frames]
you will get compleate migration of the carbon [tri calcium phosphate] from your bone charcoal anywhere above steels non magnetic temperture which of course is 1333 degrees F. You can get spectacular colors at 1350 and if your not something else isnt right
Hope this helps ya
Earle
Old world craftsmanship from Classic Restorations on fine American firearms. Period finishes on Double guns and Lever Actions for museum quality.
Oscar was my mentor as well. Seems Oscar has helped a lot of folks over the years. He was a fine gentleman, always willing to share his knowledge, and is I'm sure missed by many.
I absolutely agree with you on temperatures. I never go above 1375F, and I always quench at 1100F or lower. Temperatures are my pet peeve. I think Brownells still has 1450F as the carburizing and quenching temps listed in their CCH'ing instructions. If you search the internet it's worse. I've seen temps as high as 1750F listed. If nothing else, I hope this thread on CCH'ing will show people who are comptemplating CCH'ing that you don't need to melt the steel in order to color case harden it!
I guess I haven't stated what size bone and wood charcoal I'm using. I use 10x28 mesh bone charcoal from Ebonex Corp, and 6 mesh wood charcoal from Berger Brothers.
Thanks for your comments Earle. I'm sure that everyone reading this post appreciates what knowledge and experiences that you are able to share!
Looks SPOT on, Jim! I take it that your not going to anneal this one and try again? I hope you have a nice figured piece of walnut to go with those colors! It's still amazing how the little things make a big difference. I think you'll be getting alot of requests for color improvements on the old Marlins.
Looks good Jim........... I am sure Oscar would be proud of you now?? And you are getting close here. Sounds like the boys are happy with the results, and now you can see how people can be fooled ??? Imagine if you lug this gun around for a few years and expose it to natural sunlight and some collector sees this gun ,naturally faded out to a nice softness overall. How realistic these colors will look even when compared to ones done at the factory. Always nice to be able to help someone as dedicated as yourself. Keep up your work.
E
Old world craftsmanship from Classic Restorations on fine American firearms. Period finishes on Double guns and Lever Actions for museum quality.
I'd say the aeration is set just about .......perfect
It's still amazing how the little things make a big difference. I think you'll be getting alot of requests for color improvements on the old Marlins.